Pleasant surprise when I came across a bunch of the CPP Security figurines at a Fleatique.

 I have always loved Flea markets and 2nd hand stores. I love looking for old tools and electronics I can fix up .

So to my surprise while walking thru  Millers Crossing Fleatique on Sawmill Run blvd in Pittsburgh   when I cam across a bunch of the CPP Security figurines  they would give clients . Made of ceramic they where comical and just fun to have on a desk or end table in the clients lobby. 

also to my surprise it appears Pinkerton's who bought CPP Security kept the tradition up replacing the CPP logo with theirs until Pinkerton s was Purchased by Securitas.

I acquired several of them and their where over a dozen different ones to choose from 

I never thought I would ever see these again let alone have the opportunity to purchase them.

When I explained to kind sales clerk that I worked for CPP Security she said she was told they belonged to one of the local company's partners who had passed. 

Maurice Dispennett Started CPP Security and  as far as I knew he did not have a partner but apparently he did. because you had to have law Enforcement experience above rank of patrolmen to get a Detectives License 

so Maurice must of had a partner who was a LEO  But who it was I do not know.For as far as I know he did not have experience . he had Firefighter background having been a Paid member of Mt Lebanon Fire Dept. and then a volunteer chief for Zelienople  But last I heard he was working as a constable in Zelienople and has he passed away from Brain Cancer in 2017 at age of 68 

Hate to say bad things about the dead but he was not a good boss he was a liar a back stabber and put peoples lives at risk.

Strange Industrial Ruins with a Bizzare Mystery in E. Carnegie.

 E. Carnegie a forgotten neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh which Borders Scott Twp and Carnegie  Pa.

Its a mix of residential and Commercial structures and one of its main streets is Idelwood Ave.

and as you leave the residential area and start up around the bend you pass a set of  cyclone fence gates and mini guard shack that have been abandoned for man years and if you further explore you will find some strange concrete structures. 

It closed around 40 years ago but at one time it was a very active place.

It was owned and operated by Browning Ferris who had a contract with the city of Pittsburgh to handle its refuse and for many years trucks came down Idelwood and came to this transfer facility where they would offload garbage to large hoppers which where then taken by tractor trailer to browning Ferris dump some where in west hills.  when they lost the contract  it was locked up and closed. but shortly before it permanently closed a bizarre incident happened. 

Across the valley from the transfer facility is a plant which makes vegetable Oil  mallet Industries and in 1980  while I was working there as a guard for CPP security on a patrol as I was rounding the oil tanks that stored fuel oil for the large boiler system   I heard a loud shot ring out and bullet hit one of the tanks.

I looked across the valley to see an individual in a white jump suit with a riffle in his hands aiming at the tanks.  I immediately ran for a phone and called police  as did some neighbors who also heard the shots and Pittsburgh and Carnegie police responded but where not able to find the individual he had fled.   Police thought maybe was a disgruntled employee present or former but why wear a white jump suit which made him stand out?

Luckily that was only time he tried it and never heard of another incident involving the plant, which still operates to this day.

it could have been catastrophic to environment had he succeeded in puncturing the tanks or even possibly caused an explosion. But he was far enough away bullets just bounced. as far as I and police know he was not aiming for me .

 

 

 

AT&T Causing major headaches with Transition from GSM 2G to GSM 3G/4G Service and putting lives and property in jeopardy

On January1st 2017 AT&T Nationwide shut down its old 2G GSM data Network

In doing so they required all Burglar and Fire Alarm company's to upgrade their  existing 2G units to the new 3G/4G units.

Everything was going fine I like many company's put in the new 3G/4G communicators and where getting good solid signals on 3G/4G  but then when AT&T shit down 2G all of a sudden  now the good solid 3G/4G signals are no longer there or extremely low causing a mad dash to add on external antennas, re-position the units  etc. to try and capture a signal. 
The end result many Burglar and Fire Alarm customers are being left without protection if the Cellular Communicators are the sole means how the signal from their systems are being sent out.

It appears AT&T  has not properly deployed the new service and no one is getting answers from them in the mean time millions of homes and business have spotty to no coverage should their alarms activate.

Not a good situation to be in. Most of my customers cellular is used for back up incase the internet or hone line fails so signals are getting good and as i get a fail to communicate signal I can go and fix it
but large company's do not have this luxury and are scrambling to get things done becuse of the many thousands of accounts they have.

We had similar issues when AT&T transitioned from Amps Analog to GSM Digital a few years back but nothing like we are currently seeing. what ever they are doing to get things optimized in their network I hope they get it done soon so people can get a good nights sleep because myself and many other alarm company owners are not.

A major jewelry store burglary in Wexford that went unsolved : from the dark matters & mysteries blog

You would not think Pittsburgh was a big place for diamond and jewelry business but you would be mistaken. Not only does Pittsburgh have a Office building dedicated to high end jewelers known as The Clark Building on liberty ave but it has also had some high profile Jewel Burglaries as well .

One such story involves the David Weiss Company they where popular catalog stores back in 1970s and 80's  along with Basco's and Dele Kenpers  all 3 long since out of business it sat Katy corner  across from popular shopping center and down off road which made it a perfect target being isolated.  Especially since the front of the store faced the rear of the highway .

One night while working for Holmes Protection as an alarm runner repairman   in 1980 my runner Partner  the late Stanley Churma and I were sent to fix the Alarm at the David Weiss catalog showroom in Wexford on US 19. Stanley goes on to tell me this store was the reason Holmes had to install  the Wells Fargo Line Security  Unit on their McCullough Loop system .Which was used to transmit alarm signals to Holmes Downtown Pittsburgh Offices. After they suffered a major loss at this store in the 70's 

https://www.google.com/patents/US3794991

A McCullough loop is basically a large single loop of telephone wire which starts at the central office and is starts out then goes to the individual clients panel and on to the next as many as 100 alarms could be monitored on this loop  each control had a small dc motor which would punch out a unique code in the office to tell when it was turned on and off or was in alarm and Holmes had McCullough loops which went all the way up to to Meadville Pa which monitored fire alarms at Amway feed mills 100 miles away. Of course McCullough loops had there problems as well and this is where burglars took advantage and why the line security unit needed installed.

Certain times of days when business where opening and closing multiple transmitters coming into the office could confuse the pen which made the marks on the tape and overlap each other  a real mess you could not tell some times of all alarm panels had closed properly.

Another problem which was exploited and allowed the David Weiss in Wexford to be burglarized in late 70's  and  tens of thousands in Jewelry stolen was the loop had  no way of knowing if it was going thru a customers
 panel or not, a smart burglar just had to know where to place a jumper on the McCullough loop after measuring phone line voltages and determining which pair to jump and could bypass the panel which happened in Wexford.
To combat this high risk customers after this major burglary had modules placed in there panels and the line security unit looked to see that each panel was sending a special code to it if it did not see the code coming from the panels every 90 seconds an alarm went off and  armed runners like myself where dispatched to see what was going on. This technology worked excellent for many years but eventually burglars with computers where able to emulate it with another computer . McCullough loops have almost completely gone away with private secure 2 way radio and encrypted cellular and internet communicators now in use. Holmes Protection which was based out of NYC no longer exsists and was merged with one of the big national alarm companys.

Now for just such a burglary to go down  takes a burglary crew and many times big burglary where often thought to be pulled off by the local mafia crime family since they where  military precise. and left few clues . To my knowledge no one was ever arrested .


Of course with security getting harder to beat at night this has lead thieves to use the much ore risky tactic of day lite armed robberies where several armed thieves hit the place and break into show cases with sledge hammers and clean them out while holding employees hostage. 

Has anything changed with the way guard companys are run and employess treatd in the 30+ years since I worked as a Security Guard ? NO

Even thous I have not worked as a guard since 1980's I still run across plenty of them in my work and in that time period absolutly nothing has changed as to how gurds are paid and treated .
its still minimum or just above minimum wages poor and inadequate training  and confusing laws and rules which govern them.

 Pa Act 235 which certifies guards to carry fire arms has not been updated since I took the course in 78 . and training is still a joke.

Is it any better in other states ?  no and in some cases no training at all is need for a guard to carry a gun.

In fact City of Pittsburgh reticently passed a law which is now being appealed which would set minimum training for guards and maintenance staff to handle emergencys in buildings downtown.

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8898637-74/pittsburgh-training-ordinance#axzz3kIfV5AWK

No it seems nothing ever changes when it comes to guards and how they are treated. Security company's come and go so fast you have to have a score card  peoples rights are abused and no one bats an eye  and security company's get sued and file bankruptcy and start next day under a new name. 

Security really is a game but really it is nothing more than a joke.

The Alarm Subcontractor game how National Alarm Servicing Company's take advantage of small contractors and screw there national clients Do you really know who is servicng your alarm?

Yes it amazes me how little background checking and Vetting  is done by alarm company's who supply nationwide alarm service to there clients.

Here is how it works
You open up a chain of discount  stores and become successful and want the same company that is doing your alarm and security services to handle all your stores in several states.

No problem they tell you we can do that for you.

So starts the  Alarm Sub Contractor Game

I get a Phone call. Hi is this Nick?

Yes this is Nick how can I help you  ?

Im with  ABC  Alarm company where a national alarm servicing company and we need a service / installing company to service our customers discount store are you interested?

Yes I am instrested.

Fine I will email you the details and can you do it tomorrow we are under a tight deadline to get this done.

Yes I can move couple things around send me what you have.


So it goes

No subcontractors agreement no proof of insurance, no proof of my skills and knowledge of codes and rules no check to see if I have or need a license  nothing just word of a supply house recommendation  or look up on internet and your hired .

Yes no background check at all and I am sent to work at a check cashing store where thousands of dollars are being handled. 

Why you ask?
Because these national servicing networks are so overburdened with work they do not have the time to deal with the paper work and if they do its sevral months and several jobs down the road before its taken care of.

It is also because many of these company's do not want to pay enough  or do not want to pay at all.
most want to pay you $35 and hour and no travel time . thats OK if you have several  and they are in close and it is worth it otherwise it is not. then on Installs they want you to wait 90 days to get paid.

Which has resulted in my having to shame them before their customer to finally get paid when it started going on 160 days and then never do work for them again and I am talking big name well known national security company's who play this game. who handles  cash checking and dollar stores

 I recently had to do this with a well known  big regional company based out of Atlanta Georgia
when I was not paid for installing Camera systems at 2 books a Million Stores.

in fact the one company I stopped working for has been begging me to come back and work for them they can get no help in the area and when I told them I was not interested  and they asked why I told them about not paying me and taking forever and they stopped bugging me.

At this point I will no longer do any sub work for any national servicing company out of all the ones I sub work for one was really nice to work for but they no longer have the contracts in my area which is a shame. 3 others I did work for no longer exist who where decent. thats the problems when it comes to national servicing company's who do a good job get fired because national retail chains are interested in one thing only the almighty dollar and will stab any one in the back to get it and this results in slob work with no permits and midnight installs and if there is a loss who cares they either absorb it or turn in an insurance claim. Sad but true.

List of Guard jobs and assignments I worked in my young adult years

  #- Denotes  high crime area

 * denotes hazardous material  site requiring clean up when closed
 + Superfund clean up site

Burns international detective agency  Security- Unarmed Position 1978-79

CM American Forge - Mckeesrocks Pa- closed *#
Parkway Center West- Building 7#  assignment and 1 thru 6 assignment  - Green tree
Pittsburgh Annealing Box - Pittsburgh North side- closed and demolished-# *
Duquesne Light project south side Mary Jane street- completed
Duquesne light project 2nd ave Pittsburgh - closed -demolished *
LTL Trucking - McKeesrocks - closed -  worked trucker strike
Chatham Village  apartments- mt Washington

CPP Security- Unarmed Position

Affordable Furniture - West Mifflin - closed -demolished- strike *
Walsworth Valve -Greensburg - closed demolished- work stoppage- *
Holiday Inn - West Mifflin - closed  now reopened after several other things as holiday Inn express
Dravo corp.- catwalk plant neville island - closed *
Dravo corp offices - closed demolished *
Vulcan materials/AMG resources- neville island -closed demolished *
Sewickly bridge project- completed area now a park
Hepenstall steel- Pittsburgh Lawrenceville- closed demolished # *
Reliance steel products - Mckeesport - closed demolished -  now rite aide drug store # *
Caste Village Shopping center construction & remodel
Kaufman's dept store Sale - Downtown Pittsburgh- merged may company
The bank Center wood street downtown Pittsburgh -closed #
Mallet company -Carnegie
Sauer Bros-Pittsburgh  Lawrenceville - moved  #
AMO Pollution Services - Cecil twp. - strike - closed - demolished-superfund site  * +

Mcglennon  Detective agency - armed  and unarmed position

McDonald's McKeesport  closed #
Mcdonalds  Olympia Plaza Mckeesport #
McDonalds  Wexford rt 19
McDonalds Northern Pike Monroeville
Keystone Plumbing - East Liberty Pittsburgh - closed #
Rite aide ? Drug E. Liberty Pittsburgh- Closed #
Rite Aide  ? drug wind gap plaza -Pittsburgh closed plaza demolished #
Private home - Munhall
Lil general /Unimart C store -shady side Pittsburgh
Winkys-Carrick-closed #
Sweet Williams restaurant- Penn Hills - closed- demolished

Pa Certified police -  armed Position
- Holiday house new years eve party   1980-original  buck ram  platters played

Pa professional Security unarmed position

 - Shop n save -  south land shopping center Pleasant hills- closed

Commonwealth security armed position

carrick gold n silver- brownsville rd Pittsburgh -closed
gold n silver temp exchange  set up - Sheridan hotel - rt 19 upper st clair-closed
gold n silver  exchange - mckight road plaza- closed  now a bottom dollar-closed

 Don Stettner? detective agency- undercover plain clothes  assignments

Lil genral /Unimart  c store carrick
watch couple going thru divorce tail husband sarah street southside

Holmes Protection- armed position
  Ran alarm calls and investigated  or fixed alarms

McCormick products- strip district
Caldwell forge - strip district-closed *
 ? supply strip district-
Bertner? Kitchens- strip district -
Specialty office supply strip district -closed
AB Smith - art supplies - Monroeville -closed
AB Smith  downtown Pittsburgh-  closed
rubber products - strip district- moved
 Taylor chemicals - strip district *
Patterson machine - north side - closed #*
 ? lithographing  company  north side closed #*
? lithographing company off jacks run road -closed # *
 ? lithographing  company -Crafton industrial park - closed *
? lithographing company northside- closed *
? forge north side by keystone plumbing - closed demolished #*
Joesph Horne warehouse- Crafton - closed'
Joesph Horne company downtown Pittsburgh - closed
Heinz company Cecil twp warehouse - closed
Mellon bank liberty ave - closed demolished'
Mellon bank - Frankstown ave - closed demolished #
Mellon Bank check processing building - closed
giant eagle produce strip district -closed
Jacob gloves 5th ave Pittsburgh- moved #
Jacob gloves warehouse 5th ave - closed - demolished #
? clothing store 5th ave # -closed -demolished
Robinson amusements supply  forbes ave pittsburgh  - closed#
 Hamburg brother strip district - closed
Hamburg brothers stowe twp-  closed
Jason's dept store  Mckeesport- closed #
Plotkin brothers plumbing supply - Glassport -closed
 bataglia recycling - e casron street pittsburgh - moved- demolished *
?recycling  behind bataglia  east carson - closed -demolished *
Cambell barge offices on ohio river Pittsburgh
keystone scrap metals east Carson street -Pittsburgh
ab photo strip district -closed
Behorst food supply- Bridgeville
 Hardy & Hayes jewelry wood street Pittsburgh - closed
max azen furs Pittsburgh- closed
Canadian furs Pittsburgh -closed
Joesph Herman Furs-Downtown Pittsburgh
Roberts Jewelers -Downtown Pittsburgh - Closed
Wester Burlap Hill district Pittsburgh- closed -demolished #
Brooks brothers wood street Pittsburgh- closed
brooks brothers Monroeville mall - closed
Laverty jewelers  north side Pittsburgh- now my customer #
Madison pen north side -  closed  -buildings  owner now my customer #
Library food land - closed- was my customer till they closed
Wacken engineering route 8 rich land - closed
Atlas waste paper - south side Pittsburgh
M. Berger company 6th & Bingham St Pittsburgh -closed
Levinson steel south side Pittsburgh - closed demolished *
? vending - Homestead - closed demolished #
Lipsetts supply - morewood ave  pittsburgh
? auto supply warehouse- oakland pittsburgh - closed demolished
Lessnet supply sheridan - pittsburgh-closed
foodland super market - sheridan - pittsburgh - closed #
swartzs market - 5th ave - pittsburgh- closed #
swartzs market -e carson pittsburgh - closed
buncher scrap yard- herrs island - closed - demolished *
 swisvale auto recycling - Swissvale- closed- demolished- super fund site #*+
Whimco metals  Wilkinsburg #
Duquesne Club - Pittsburgh
Sears dept store- E. Liberty Pittsburgh # Closed demolished
Sears dept Store Warehouse- Lawrenceville Pittsburgh #
comcast warehouse - sheridan -pittsburgh #
crane plumbing supply- sheridan - pittsburgh- closed #
Anchor supply-Carnegie - closed
Winston furnace - Carnegie - closed
ryerston steel- Carnegie - closed
GMC Training center- monroeville- closed
GMC training center Carnegie - closed
Connely promotions - westwood - pittsburgh- closed
Beechman? vending- Mckeesrocks
? tire supply Mckeesrocks - closed
Patent Scaffolding - spring garden - pittsburgh - moved #
Follansbe Steel Mckeesrocks -closed
Ruthraff  mckeesrocks -
Lockhart steel mckeesrocks- closed
Mobil gas terminal - mckeesrocks - closed
sexton foods warehouse - Mckeesrocks
Browdy printing - east liberty - pitsburgh - closed - demolished #
 Williams metals - northside - closed #
Pittsburgh Tag company - northside -#
? tire smallman st strip district - closed
? Bank Freeport road - fox chapel -